


Late Night Walk

by voidde



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-22 19:39:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3741166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voidde/pseuds/voidde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College AU in which David Washington invites "Doc" DuFresne out for an adventure around town in the middle of the night, the two only having met once before.</p><p>(POV Second Person: Washington)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, so this is my first piece that i'm actually posting online! i'm kinda nervous but whatever. sorry if this chapter seems kinda short, but i'm gonna get back to this story as soon as i have less school going on. (also please tell me if anything i write about their college experiences doesn't make sense because, although i do research for my stories, i'm in high school and i don't quite know how all these things work) i might also change the name of the story at some point because i'm not sure how much i like it?? but yeah thanks for reading and please tell me what you think!!

You don’t really know what to do. There aren't really many options, though, so you just sit and absently pluck the strings of your guitar. Well, York’s guitar. But everybody knows that you play it far more than he does, so it’s practically yours. A few feet in front of you, the TV plays a commercial quietly. You stare at the screen for a moment and realize you can’t even remember what show you were watching. Yep, just another one of those boring nights. Sitting alone. In the dark.

God, you’re a loser.

You place the guitar next to you on the couch and take your feet off the coffee table to reach for your phone on it. You turn it on, and the screen tells you that it’s 11:46pm with a light entirely too bright for your eyes that had adjusted to the dark around you. Turning the phone off again, you toss it back onto the table. You sigh.

The thing about times like 11:46pm is that it’s a time when you feel like you should be going to bed, but you can’t quite bring yourself to because you’re just not tired enough. And so you have to make a decision. Do you make the most of life and go out and live (much like you know your friend and roommate, York, is doing with his girlfriend right now)? Or do you try to get more rest so that you’ll feel better rested tomorrow (like your other friend and roommate, North, is in the other room)?

You think about it for maybe a minute and realize that North is sick and that life is passing you by and that you had two tests over your three classes today so you deserve this, dammit. Quickly, you get up and head to your bedroom that sits across from York and North’s shared room. You find your sneakers on the floor and pull them on, double-knotting them. You find a yellow sweater hung up in your closet and throw it on over your t-shirt, and then your large, grey coat over that since it’s almost December. You walk back out and into the kitchen area to grab your wallet and keys to the apartment, and to hastily write a note to leave on the counter. You then grab your phone back off the small table in the living space and walk out the front door, locking the door behind you. You don’t bother to turn off the TV as you leave.

\----

You walk two blocks before you realize that it’s lightly snowing and that you still kinda look like a loser. You got out of the tiny apartment so that you could “live”, but that’s still not really happening. You stop walking in front of a bench, so you wipe some of the frost off and sit. Staring at the cars that hurry past, you try to think of something to do. The moment is pretty similar to one you were living in less than 15 minutes ago, and you find this just a little pathetic. After some thinking, you ultimately decide that this would be a lot nicer with someone beside you, and pull out your phone to find someone to drag along.

You scroll through the familiar names and faces, thinking to yourself that nobody in your contacts seems suitable for this kind of situation. Connie is probably asleep. Maine is also probably asleep. Tex is far too intimidating. Tucker’s a little loud. Caboose is way too loud.

It takes another skim over your short contact list to actually see his name and picture. It just says “Doc”, which you find odd because you typically write in people’s last names along with their first. If that’s even his first name - it sounds more like a nickname, you think. His picture is blurry, and he looks irritated and possibly like he’s shouting. You can see that he has tanned skin and dark hair. He also looks like he has dark eyes and glasses, and he’s wearing a red shirt. You don’t have to think too long before you remember him.

You only ever met him once. He was a friend of a friend of a friend - literally. Even so, you remember most of the night you met kind of well. It was somebody’s birthday two or three months ago (somebody’s 21st birthday, to be exact; you remember being at a bar for that specific reason). You can’t recall exactly who was being celebrated, but you do remember Caboose’s friend, Donut, being there. And then there was Donut’s friend, Doc. You recall him as one of the maybe three people that didn’t drink. Then you cringe as you also remember him as the one who helped you walk home from the bar; about a half mile away. You were the stupid, happy drunk that you are when you drink too much, and you remember putting your number in his phone “just in case you wanna hang out later” and falling half asleep in the middle of a crosswalk and saying something about a “cute doctor” to your roommates when he left. That’s when it hits you that this is this guy’s last and only memory of you.

There’s probably more reason to you hitting the call button next to Doc’s name than just wanting to redeem yourself to him, but you try not to focus on it too much.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is so late!! this chapter is also shorter than i really wanted it to be, but i hadn't worked on it very much and even though i wasn't really feeling writing today, i knew that i needed to get something out. so apologies again and i'll try working on more of this ahead of time ú_ù

He answers on the fourth ring.

“Uh… Hello?”, Doc says slowly. You realize that he might not remember you or ever think you would call him or even have your number in his phone. You stay cautious.

“Um… Hi. Is this Doc?”

“...Yeah. Is this David Washington?”

You cringe. You can’t believe you gave him your full name when you didn’t get his.

“Uh, yeah. But you can just call me Wash, you know.”

The two of you slip into an awkward silence, and for a moment, you consider hanging up. That is, until he interrupts your thoughts.

“So is there a reason that a drunk I’ve only met once is calling me at 12 o’clock at night? Do you need me to walk you home again?”, he asks sarcastically. You can almost feel his cocky grin through the phone and you smile. You’re relieved that he has a sense of humor even in a weird situation.

“No. And I’m hardly a drunk.”

“You should’ve seen how much you drank. You were stumbling around and saying weird stuff.”

Doc’s comment reminds you of how you called him “cute” to York and North when you got home. You almost pray that you didn’t say something like that directly to him. Shaking off that thought, though, you attempt to continue some form of a normal conversation. “Anyway,” you say, “that’s all beside the point.”

“Then what exactly is this phone call about?”

There’s a pause, which you take to repeat the question in your mind over and over, until you finally have the courage to say it out loud.

“I was wondering… Would you like to go for a walk with me… or something?” You tack the “or something" on the end of the original statement so that you sound more casual and less like you might be trying to trick this almost stranger into meeting so you can murder him.

There’s a longer silence and you’re actually scared for a moment to hear his reaction. You can’t pinpoint exactly why you care so much about Doc’s opinion of you - you just do. The idea that he might find you weird or creepy puts a bad feeling in your gut. You almost never care this much about how people see you, whether they’re strangers or not.

“Why?”

The words on the other line snap you out of your thoughts. Why? Well, shit. Even you don’t know exactly why. You decide to go with that.

“Uh… I don’t really know. I’ve been bored and wanted some company, I guess.”

“Aren’t there other people you know better that you’d rather walk with?”

Your stomach drops. “Is that a no?”

You can hear him hum a bit, probably in contemplation. Finally, you hear him say “Not necessarily.” “ I mean,” he continues, “I don’t really know you, and I typically try not to stay out late at night with strangers… But I don’t feel like you’re threat. Besides, people I already know like you so…”

“So… Is that a yes?”

Doc quietly giggles on the other end and finally agrees to your proposal.

\----

Standing outside of the local library, you’re starting to realize just how cold it is outside. You open the weather app on your phone and the current temperature for your town reads 30°F. You feel a little bitter towards the warm building you’re standing against, with its “Closed. Will return at 8:00am” sign and locked doors. Still, you wait by those doors for Doc, who told you that he would be there and outside shortly.

Speaking of which, you turn to see him as you hear the glass door beside you open. He silently closes the door and locks it with the keys in his hand. Doc shoves the ring of keys into his unzipped jacket pocket, and pulls the black knit hat that was tucked in the crook of his elbow over his head. Then, he just looks at you.

For a few seconds, the two of you just stare at each other, mostly for (what seems like) a shared thought of “I never thought I’d see you again”. Eventually though, you shift your gaze to the sidewalk and say “Um… Hi.” You let your words hang in the air for a quiet moment before awkwardly sticking your hand out for him to shake and glancing back towards his face. Doc’s eyes move to your hand and he shakes it, a small smile forming on his face.

“Hello.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY ABOUT HOW LATE THIS IS. i have no excuses, i'm just lazy (and the way i write makes chapters so short apologies!!). anyway i hope you enjoy this new chapter after nearly a year!

After your first introductions and comments, the two of you are silent for a while. It’s one part trying to find things to talk about, one part getting more comfortable around each other, and one part simple awkwardness. One thing Doc - which you now know is a nickname for Frank DuFresne, which is a pretty last name to have, you had thought to yourself - had told you was that he needed to stop by his apartment to drop off the books and pick up his wallet. You said that you didn’t mind and offered to carry some books he was holding, to which Doc agreed. Now you’re walking down the quiet street with a few library books tucked under your arm, next to a kinda short, kinda cute guy with dark skin, glasses, and books of his own.

His apartment building isn’t too far from the library, so the walk doesn’t take very long. Once you arrive at the old looking building, he invites you in, and you happily accept this invitation. The inside of the building feels warm and wonderful as opposed to the cold air outside. The two of you climb a few stairs to get to the second floor.

Walking into Doc’s flat, you realize immediately that it’s very average. All of his furniture looks old, and random dishes and takeout boxes cover nearly every surface. As you set your books down on an armchair, you notice some papers with crude drawings done in crayon sitting on an end table. You ask Doc, who’s in his bedroom, about them.

“You know Lavernius Tucker?” he half-shouts to you.

Well, of course you know Tucker, you think to yourself. He’s probably one of your best friends, even though he can be kind of an asshole.

“Yeah,” you say.

“Well, usually whenever I get free time, I babysit his kid.”

You nod to yourself, noticing that the people in the drawings do look kind of like Tucker and his son, Junior. There’s also some pictures of what appear to be aliens and UFOs. You stick your hands in your pockets and look around idly at the rest of the apartment. That’s when something catches your eye.

A small TV sits against a wall, and above that TV is a shelf. On the shelf, you see a bunch of picture frames holding photos of people that you assume are Doc’s friends and family. They’re nice photos, and all of the people in them look happy, but there’s one photo that doesn’t sit right with you. It’s a photo of Doc and a girl. The girl has her arm around Doc’s shoulders, their cheeks are pressed together, and they both look like they’re laughing. You know that you shouldn’t really feel anything about this photo, but for some reason you really don’t like it. The other pictures don’t bother you like this one does, even the ones that are similar, and you kind of don’t want to know why.

You nearly jump out of your skin when you notice Doc standing next to you, staring at the same photo of the girl and him. You stumble looking for words, but he beats you to it.

“That’s a nice photo, yeah?”

“I, uh… Yeah, it is,” you say, trying not to sound like you were thinking about ripping it up just a second ago. “Who, um, who is that with you… in the photo…?”

“Oh, that’s Kaikaina Grif. She lives around around here, but she’s not in school. She’s Dexter Grif’s sister.”

“That’s cool… How long have you two been together?”

Doc gives you a confused look. “We’re not dating. Kai and I are just friends.”

Suddenly, the photo looks a lot nicer to you.

“Oh, sorry. Well, um, do you have a girlfriend then?”

“Nah,” Doc says while turning and walking towards the door. You follow him out as he explains, “I’m pretty single right now. Besides, I’m not really into girls all that much. I mean, they’re nice and I wouldn’t mind dating a girl, but… I don’t know. I like guys more, I guess.”

At this point he’s standing at the front door with his hand on the knob, and he’s looking at the ground like he’s embarrassed. You understand why he would be embarrassed, but you’re mostly feeling excited right now. You try really hard not to think about why.

“Oh. That’s cool,” you say, and then pause for a moment and wonder if you should tell him. You think why not since he’s already told you about himself, and you just go for it.

“Uh… Me too, actually.”

Doc looks up quickly at you when you say it, and his eyes looks surprised. “R-really?” he asks, pulling a smirk that still looks a little shy.

“Yeah… Except for the girl part. I have um… no interest in them at all,” you mention with a bit of a quiet, nervous laugh.

Doc’s eyebrows raise and he smiles a bit, and you can tell he wasn’t expecting that. You can still see the acceptance in his expression, however, so you smile back at him. Neither one of you talks anymore about it on your way down the stairs and out of the building, but the silence isn’t awkward. You feel like both of you understand each other a bit more, and to be completely honest, you can’t wait to know more about the man you’re standing next to. And his smile makes you think that he feels the same.

He asks you if you’re ready to go on the walk, and trying to remain casual, you just say “yeah”. You figure you probably don’t look very casual, though, considering your big dumb smile is still plastered across your face. The two of you head off down the dimly lit sidewalk with no set destination, as you try to keep newly formed ideas buried deep in your mind.


End file.
